Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia (SURS)

Transport, tourism and information society statistics section

Litostrojska cesta 54, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenija

Statistics on goods transport by road describe the transport activity of lorries registered in Slovenia.
The data are collected by Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia on the basis of the Regulation (EU) No 70/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council on statistics on goods transport by road. Road freight data collection consists of three datasets with quarterly periodicity:
1. Vehicle related variables dataset for a sample of road good motor vehicles contains, among others, indication about the type and age of the vehicle, the economic activity of the owner of the vehicle, the total kilometres loaded or empty.
2. Journey related variables dataset, which contains, among others indications about weight of goods, regions of loading and unloading, distance driven, and tonne-kilometres performed during a journey.
3. Goods related variables dataset, which contains among others the type of goods, transported and their weight and distance travelled regions of loading and unloading.

Statistics on carriage of goods by road apply the following statistical classifications:

• The type of goods transported by road was collected, until reference year 2007 (included), according to the 24 groups of goods following the "Standard Goods Classification for Transport Statistics/Revised (NST/R )".
• The regional coding is done in conformity with European legislation: "NUTS Nomenclature of territorial units for statistics" (see also NUTS). Economic activity class of the vehicle owner is an optional variable. Data were collected according to NACE Rev. 1 until the end of 2007. From the beginning of 2008 onwards, the economic activity has been classified according to NACE Rev. 2 (see  "Statistical Classification of Economic Activities in the European Community, Rev. 2 (NACE Rev. 2)").
• Type of dangerous goods is a mandatory variable, but it is reported only for those goods that fall into this category. The classification is based on "European Agreement concerning the International Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Road", Chapter 2.1, as published in Annex E of Council Regulation (EC) No 1172/98. Directive 2008/68/EC makes reference to ADR as regards the transport of dangerous goods by road.

The optional variable type of cargo follows the Classification of Cargo Types of UNECE (United Nations, Economic Commission for Europe - codes for types of cargo, packages and packaging materials, Recommendation 21 adopted by the Working Party on Facilitation of International Trade Procedures, Geneva, March 1986).

Statistics cover the road freight transport operations by heavy goods vehicles registered in Slovenia:

• Commercial road freight transport (National Classification of Activities), referred to as "Hire or reward" road freight transport.
• Road freight transport by private vehicles and by vehicles owned by enterprises classified in other classes. This kind of transport is identified as "own account" road freight in order to satisfy production or service needs within the framework of business activities. 

The main concepts used in Road freight statistics are the following, more details can be found in the Road freight transport methodology manual: 

A goods road motor vehicle is any single road transport vehicle (lorry), or combination of road vehicles, namely road train (lorry with trailer) or articulated vehicle (road tractor with semi-trailer), designed to carry goods
Cross-trade is international road transport between two different countries performed by a road motor vehicle registered in a third country.
National transport is Road transport between two places (a place of loading and a place of unloading) located in the same country by a vehicle registered in that country. 
International transport is Road transport between two places (a place of loading and a place of unloading) in two different countries and cabotage by road. It may involve transit through one or more additional country or countries.
Cross trade is International road transport between two different countries performed by a road motor vehicle registered in a third country.
Transit is any loaded or empty road motor vehicle, which enters and leaves a country at different points by whatever means of transport, provided the total journey within the country is by road and that there is no loading or unloading in the country.
Goods carried by road are any goods moved by goods vehicle
Place of loading/unloading of a goods road vehicle on another mode of transport:

• Place of loading (of the goods road transport vehicle on another mode of transport): The place of loading is the first place where the goods road motor vehicle was loaded on to another mode of transport (usually a ship or a rail wagon).
• Place of unloading (of the goods road transport vehicle from another mode of transport): The place of unloading is the last place where the goods road motor vehicle was unloaded from another mode of transport (usually a ship or a rail wagon).

The observation unit for road freight transport statistics is a goods road transport vehicle and its reporting unit is the local unit (an enterprise, as identified in the national business register).

Lorries registered in the Register of Motor Vehicles at the Ministry of Infrastructure of Slovenia that weight at least 2 tonnes.

The data provided are goods vehicles registered in Slovenia. 

Data are available in time series since 2001 onwards.

Not applicable.

Data are collected in tonnes, tonne-kilometres, vehicle-kilometres and in number of journeys (journey data) or in number of basic transport operations (BTO - goods related data).

The road data are collected on a quarterly basis and are reported to Eurostat five months after the end of the reference period.

European level: 

• REGULATION (EU) N° 70/2012   

National level:

Complementary national legislation constituting the legal basis for the survey:

• Annual Programme of Statistical Surveys (LPSR) (only in Slovene)
• National Statistics Act (OJ RS, No. 45/95 and 9/01)

National level :

SURS is transmitting and sharing aggregated data of the survey with Eurostat in accordance with the EU Regulation (EU) No 70/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council on statistics on goods transport by road. 

Eurostat :

Eurostat submits annually semi-aggregated data (data exchange tables, see Commission Regulation (EU) No 202/2010 amending the Commission Regulation (EC) 6/2003) back to the reporting countries so that they can compile the total road freight transport on their national territories, including the operations by national hauliers and also those of all other reporting countries. These data exchange tables include more detailed breakdowns than the publicaly available tables. They also include, for each value, the information on the number of observations that the estimates are based on. In this way, the reporting countries can estimate the reliability of results that they aggregate from the data exchange tables.

National level:

The National Statistics Act (hereinafter the ZDSta) stipulates within fundamental principles of national statistics in Article 2 that “national statistics shall be implemented on the principles of … confidentiality …”. The principle is concretised in further provisions of the ZDSta, while for explanation one can turn to some international documents. The United Nations Resolution on Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics (adopted by the UN Statistical Commission in 1994 and confirmed by the UN General Assembly on 29 January 2014) determines in Principle 6 that “individual data collected by statistical agencies for statistical compilation, whether they refer to natural or legal persons, are to be strictly confidential and used exclusively for statistical purposes”.

European level:

• Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 on European statistics (recital 24 and Article 20(4)) of 11 March 2009 (OJ L 87, p. 164), stipulates the need to establish common principles and guidelines ensuring the confidentiality of data used for the production of European statistics and the access to those confidential data with due account for technical developments and the requirements of users in a democratic society.

Data are transmitted via eDamis (encrypted) and delivered to a secure environment where they are treated. 

At national level :

Data are transmitted via eDamis (encrypted) and delivered to a secure environment where they are treated. National Statistical Institutes are requested to add flags for confidentiality in case results must not be disclosed.

All SURS employees are obliged to protect the content of personal and individual data and data on reporting units which they learn during their work as official secrecy. All employees sign a statement of data protection and thus confirm that they are informed about the issue. The obligation to protect the official secrecy continues after the termination of employment.

In line with the National Statistics Act (ZDSta) the statistical purpose is providing and disseminating aggregate data on mass phenomena. The ZDSta also stipulates that the data can be used exclusively for statistical purposes, i.e. for disseminating aggregate data, unless otherwise provided by law. On the basis of an application written by a user, individual data can be transmitted, but only in the form and way which does not enable the identification of the unit to which the data refer. The data that enable the identification of the unit to which they refer can only be transmitted to those units to which the data refer or if these units sent the data.

SURS can publish the data only in aggregate form, so that it is not possible to identify the unit to which the data refer. The data must be available in the same way (at the same time and under the same conditions) to all users. Only exceptionally can SURS publish individual data: upon written consent of the reporting unit to which the data refer that they agree with the publication of data in such a way or if the data are collected from public (generally accessible) data collections (records, registers, databases, etc.). Click for more info on our website in this weblink and also in this other weblink.

A release calendar for the statistical outputs is available and publicly accessible.

The release calendar is available here.

SURS provides access to official statistical data to all users. The latest statistical data are published in press releases every workday at 10:30 on the date announced in advance in the Release Calendar. The calendar also includes releases of authorised producers of national statistics, i.e. the National Institute of Public Health and the Bank of Slovenia. The dates of first releases are announced a year in advance, usually in November for the coming year. During the year, SURS prepares and publishes – depending on current events – special and experimental releases, which are also announced in the Release Calendar. Users can subscribe to receiving a weekly calendar on their e-mails every Monday at 9:00.

 Press releases are published in Slovenian and English language. SURS makes sure that results of statistical surveys are presented in an unbiased, objective, clear and understandable way. It is important that the published data are of high quality, timely, and internationally comparable.

Data are disseminated quarterly (each quarter) and once a year an annual release.

National dissemination of results:

• Four regular quarterly news releases (first release) on the SURS website.
• One regular yearly release on the SURS website.

Non-applicable. Data are published in online database.

Data are published in Sistat database in transport domain (road goods transport) which covers 17 agregated tables with quarterly and annual data from 2001 onwards.

Access to the micro data can be provided according to the established rules and procedures to researches.

No other publication.

National characteristics of surveys, conducted in the reporting countries in 2019, were published in Methodologies used in surveys of road freight transport in Member States, EFTA and Candidate Countries (2021 edition). This latter publication also contains data on response rates, vehicle registers' quality, sampling rates and statistical errors in surveys carried out in 2018 and 2019.

SURS prepares and publishes on the website the following documentation on methodology:

• Methodological explanations
• National questionnaire (in Slovene only).

The Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia operates on the basis of the National Statistics Act and Regulation (EC) No. 223/2009 on European statistics; in performing its tasks it follows the general principles of quality management, the European Statistics Code of Practice and the Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics. 

More information is available on the SURS website under Quality in national statistics.

The Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia (SURS) operates on the basis of the National Statistics Act and Regulation (EC) No. 223/2009 on European statistics. In performing its tasks it follows the general principles of quality management, the European Statistics Code of practice and Quality Assurance Framework of the European Statistical  System. Also taking into account the following principles: professional independence, process orientation, quality of products and services, planning of improvements, stimulating working environment for employees, data providers-friendly official statistics, user-oriented official statistics. The principles in more detail are presented in the Quality Statement of the Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia.

In the framework of Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia quality approach, Statistical Office has introduced standard quality reports (standard-documentation) to be produced and kept up-to-date for all statistics. The reports are based on the ESS definition of quality in statistics and follow the European standard quality report and provide users with information about the underlying concepts, definitions, methods used and the quality of the statistics (meta-information) in a standardised format.

SURS methodology follows the Eurostat guidelines.

Overall data quality is sufficient for producing data on quaterly and annually basis. The survey meets criteria of consistency, comparability, accuracy and punctuality. 

To assure high response rate, SURS emphasises the importance of filling out the questionnaire with an information letter and with two remainders.

A set of validation rules and quality checks are put in place in the data entry and editing program, which detect various types of inconsistencies. In case of any inconsistency detected, the data providers are contacted to provide additional explanations or/and revise the data accordingly.

The main data users are:

• Ministries
• Universities
• Research Institutes
• Eurostat
• General public, students

Direct communication with users takes place at the meetings of the Working Group Road freight transport statistics and at the meetings of the statistical advisory committees group - the Statistical advisory committee for Transport Statistics. The members are representatives of key data users: from the public sector, scientific sphere and they meet every 18 months. The last meeting of the panel was on 14 March 2024. More information on the content of committee is available at this weblink.

The data collection on road transport statistics follows the provisions of Regulation 70/2012. 

Overall accuracy of the road transport statistics data is good. The processing with plausibility checks as well as checks done before transmitting data to Eurostat provides a high accuracy of the data providing comparable, regular, coordinated, reliable and complete information on road freight transport.

The accuracy requirements concerning the percentage standard deviation are set at not higher than +/- 5% (reliability interval 95%).

For Slovenia, these requirements have always been fulfilled.

In statistical surveys different kinds of errors can occur (e.g. sampling error, non-response error, measurement error) influencing the accuracy of the statistical results. Errors deriving from the random mechanisms determine the precision of the statistical estimates.

The Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia draws attention to less precise estimates by flagging them with a special sign or by not publishing them at all.

If the table contains estimated population totals of (continuous) variables, estimated averages of continuous variables or estimated ratios of population totals of (continuous) variables, publishing limitations are determined by the relative standard errors or the coefficients of variation (CV). In such cases it holds:

If the coefficient of variation (CV) of the estimate is:

• 10% or below (CV <= 10%), the estimate is of acceptable precision and is published without limitations;
• in the interval from 10% and up to 30% (10% < CV <= 30%), the estimate is less precise and is flagged for caution with letter M;
• over 30% (CV > 30%), the estimate is too imprecise to be published and therefore suppressed for use by letter N.

The road freight transport statistics is a statistical survey where data providers (source) are the owners and users of the (selected) vehicles. The respondents are also motivated via telephone to provide high quality data on time.

Unit non-response is the failure of a survey to collect data on all survey variables from all the population units in a sample, including non-response, late response or refusal. Non-response weights are adapted.

During the processing stage, incorrect use of planned methods of processing may occur, especially concerning the coding of response data provided in free text format. Visual check and comparison with other data sources may help to minimise errors.

Final partial data is released for each quarter around four months (110 days) after the end of the reference quarter. 

Data that are more detailed are published in the publication of annually data (around two weeks after the final data for the last quarter are published).

Road freight data are transmitted to Eurostat within 5 months after the end of the reference period, as specified in the Regulation (EU) 70//2012.

Data are delivered in time.

All data are comparable between countries.

Comparable time series are compiled and disseminated since 2001.

Road freight transport statistics data are difficult to compare with statistics of other transport modes or statistical domains due to the nationality principle used for road freight transport statistics and the territory principle used for the other transport modes. Also there is a difference by using a sampling method vs. a full survey.

All statistics are coherent within the three datasets.

The response burden is put on the enterprises chosen to report for their vehicles (vehicle based survey), whereas they do not have to report for all their vehicles (teritorial and enterprise sample). In the sample survey there are about 8,300 vehicles per year, reporting time for required information is not recorded.

Throughout the implementation of the survey, SURS pays attention to the costs of the survey and maintaining the quality of the data.

Users are informed about data revisions. Annually, usually in January, SURS prepares the list of statistical surveys subject to planned revision of statistical data (Slovene only). Users are also informed when the data are released.

Each data release contains information about the status of published data: they can be final or provisional data or experimental statistics. The exception is national and regional accounts data. In publishing these data, the status is marked as “no status”. After publishing provisional data, final data are always published. 

As regards the SiStat Database, the status of data is stated in table titles if the data are provisional or if this is experimental statistics. If the status in not stated, the data are final. In the SiStat Database, the latest version of revised data always replaces the older.

Regular revisions are not planned for the road freight transport statistics.

Sampling register used for the survey

Name of register:

Central Register of Vehicles and Traffic Documents

Name of organisation who maintains the register:

Ministry of Infrastructure

Frequency of update:

Monthly

Frequency of access to draw the samples:

Quarterly

Arrangements for accessing the register:

Bilateral institutional agreement by the Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia and the Ministry of Infrastructure and Spatial Planning.

The replication of the statistical version of the Central Register of Vehicles and Traffic Documents at the Ministry of Infrastructure and Spatial Planning is made on the last day of every month.

Before each quarterly sampling, the Central Register of Vehicles and Traffic Documents is matched with the Business Register of Slovenia to obtain information on activity and address for owners and users of vehicle.

Information obtained from the register:

Central Register of Vehicles and Traffic Documents: identification of the owner/user, type of owner, registration number, type of vehicle, type of body, unladen weight, maximum permissible laden weight, year of manufacture, number of axles, date of first registration, date of first registration in Slovenia, type of fuel used.

Used in stratification:

• type of owner
• unladen weight
• maximum permissible laden weight

Business Register: main activity of the operator, name of the owner/user, address of the owner/user.

Procedure for reminders:

First reminder – two weeks following the observation period

Second reminder – four weeks following the observation period

The survey is carried out throughout the entire year. The time period for collecting data on each statistical unit is one week. Data on road goods transport are estimates obtained with a survey on a random sample that represents all road goods motor vehicles registered in Slovenia. In 2023 there were 30,800 vehicles (quarterly) in the statistical frame and around 2,090 vehicles in the random sample. The resulting data are calculated on the entire population of goods vehicles registered in the Republic of Slovenia.

Sampling methodology

Statistical unit:

Tractive vehicle

Types of units excluded:

Agricultural vehicles, military vehicles, public service vehicles, special purpose vehicles and vehicles belonging to users that could not be matched with the business register.

Vehicles with load capacity below 2 tonnes.

Time unit:

One week

Time units of quarter 1 of 2022 included in the survey:

All (13 weeks)

Stratification:

Strata were defined with the type of ownership (2 classes: legal entities, natural persons) and loading capacity (4 classes: 2.00 - 4.99, 5.00 - 9.99, 10.00 and more tonnes, road tractors). The allocation of units among the strata is proportional with slight corrections due to fact that the sample size in each stratum should be divisible by 13 (weeks in a quarter).

Recording of weight of goods:

Gross weight of goods is collected; containers and swap bodies are excluded, but pallets might be included.

Recording of journey data sent to Eurostat:

Single stop: In case of more than one type of goods in the same journey, the main type of goods carried is used for the classification of goods. However, total weight of all goods is recorded.

Multi stop: In case of more than one type of goods in the same journey, the main type of goods carried is used for the classification of goods. However, total weight of all goods is recorded. Dataset A3 is set up with the assumption that goods loaded first are unloaded first (FIFO).

Collection/delivery: In case of more than one type of goods in the same journey, the main type of goods carried is used for the classification of goods. However, total weight of all goods is recorded.

Origin is the first place of loading or the first place from where the empty vehicle is set out to pick up goods. Destination is the furthest town in a circular journey. Empty kilometres are not recorded in A3 or A2; however, they are included in A1_8_2. In case of collection/delivery in international journey, type 2 or simplified type 1 journey is used.

Tonne-kilometres for type 3 journeys are calculated as follows:

n             stops number

DL          distance travelled loaded

WL         weight of goods loaded

WC        weight of goods collected

Other variables: In case of usage of more than one trailer in the surveyed week, only information on the trailer used in majority of cases is collected.

Calculation of weighting factors:

Weights for each stratum are calculated as follows.

Weights due to non-response:

Weights due to sample selection:

Eligible units are units that respond to the questionnaire regardless of the activity of the vehicle (also inactive: no work, holiday, etc..)..

Ineligible units are units beyond the target population that were included in the sample. These include cases were the capacity of the vehicle was below 2 tonnes or the vehicle was temporarily or permanently withdrawn from the Register.

Vehicles with unknown addresses and other mistakes in the register, sold, leased or subcontracted vehicles and vehicles whose respondents refused to answer or dispatched unusable questionnaires are treated as non-response.

Additional (optional) variables collected compared to the legal requirements:

Environmental impact related variables:

Type of fuel used, and quantity of fuel purchased.

A1. Vehicle-related variables:

• possibility of using vehicles for combined transport (NO)
• vehicle operator’s NACE Rev. 2 at class level (four-digit level) (YES)
• vehicle empty kilometres (YES)

A2. Journey-related variables:

• axle configuration according to the nomenclature defined in the Regulation on road transport statistics (YES)
• place of loading, if any, of the road transport vehicle on another means of transport (NO)
• place of unloading, if any, of the road transport vehicle from another means of transport (NO)
• Degree of loading: situation ‘fully loaded’ (procedure 2) or ‘not fully loaded’ (procedure 1) of the goods road transport vehicle during the journey in question, in terms of maximum volume of space used during the journey (procedure 0 = by convention for unloaden journeys) (YES)

A3. Goods-related variables:

• type of freight (Cargo types) as defined in the Regulation (YES

National level:

A set of validation rules and quality checks are put in place in the data entry and editing program, which detect various types of inconsistencies. In case of any inconsistency detected, the data providers are contacted to provide additional explanations or/and revise the data accordingly. Before the data are published and transmitted to Eurostat they the pre-validation option of Edamis is used. 

Eurostat:

Since 1999, micro-data from the reporting countries have to be submitted according to Commission Regulation 2163/2001. The data are then checked and validated by EUROSTAT (verification of many different codes used (NUTS 3, numeric or alphabetic variables) correctness of linked questionnaires in the different dataset, etc…). Detected errors are then reported back to the data sender with the request for correction, this is an iterative process until at least 99.5% of all data records are validated and loaded in the database.

Data compilation process includes data editing, weighting and adjustment for non-response.

National road freight data are not seasonally adjusted.

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